Nearly 2 in 5 Smartphone Users Accessed Travel Content from Their Device in July

Expedia Leads OTAs with Largest Smartphone Audience, while Southwest Ranks Top among Airlines - OTA Smartphone Audience More Skewed to Women than toward Men

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study of U.S. smartphone travel behaviors based on data from its comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0 service. The study found that nearly 40 million consumers accessed travel sites or apps from their smartphone in July 2012, reaching 37 percent of the smartphone population. TripAdvisor Media Group led as the largest travel property with a smartphone audience of 6.7 million visitors, followed by Expedia Inc. with 6 million visitors and Southwest Airlines with 4.1 million visitors. A demographic analysis revealed that women had a higher tendency than men to access OTA (Online Travel Agent) destinations on their smartphones, with Travelocity and Orbitz displaying the strongest gender skews among OTAs.

TripAdvisor Media Group Leads as Top Travel Destination for Smartphone Users

In July 2012, nearly 40 million people age 18 and older visited a travel destination via mobile browser or app on their smartphone, representing 2 in every 5 smartphone owners accessing from a device running the iOS, Android or RIM operating systems. TripAdvisor Media Group led as the top travel destination for smartphone owners with an audience of 6.7 million visitors, while Expedia Inc. secured the #2 spot with nearly 6 million visitors. Southwest Airlines led as the top airline in the ranking reaching an audience of 4.1 million visitors, while Delta Airlines also ranked among the top 10 destinations with an audience of 2.1 million visitors. Priceline.com secured the #4 spot with 3.5 million visitors while Travora Media, which includes Flightaware and Hotelplanner among other entities, ranked fifth with 2.5 million visitors.

Analysis of the share of time spent across apps and browsers revealed that travel category engagement was more evenly distributed among browser and app access when compared to the total Internet distribution. In July, 53 percent of minutes spent on Travel category content originated from apps, with browsers accounting for 47 percent of minutes. In contrast, 83 percent of all mobile content was consumed via apps with only 17 percent being accounted for by browser usage. Among the top properties, several destinations revealed strong skews toward app engagement. Kayak.com saw apps drive 94 percent of total minutes, while Delta Airlines saw 87 percent of total minutes from its app. Travel planning startup Hipmunk witnessed the strongest skew toward app engagement with 100 percent of usage occurring via app.

Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Age 18+ on iOS, Android and RIM Platforms

Source: comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0

Total Unique

Visitors (000)

% Share of Total Minutes

Browser

Share of

Minutes

App

Share

of Minutes

Total Audience: (Browsing and

Application combined)

106,543

17.2%

82.8%

Travel

39,877

47.0%

53.0%

TripAdvisor Media Group

6,672

76.5%

23.5%

Expedia

5,952

49.1%

50.9%

Southwest Airlines

4,084

50.5%

49.5%

Priceline.com

3,497

72.2%

27.8%

Travora Media

2,518

51.1%

48.9%

Kayak.com

2,090

6.0%

94.0%

Delta Airlines

2,070

13.1%

86.9%

Orbitz Worldwide

1,973

40.0%

60.0%

Marriott

1,835

36.8%

63.2%

InterContinental Hotels Group

1,676

93.6%

6.4%

Travelocity

1,614

80.6%

19.4%

Hipmunk

1,555

0.0%

100.0%

Disney Parks & Travel

1,535

100.0%

0.0%

Hilton Hotels

1,287

99.7%

0.3%

Wyndham Worldwide

1,207

100.0%

0.0%

OTAs See Smartphone Travel Audience Skew Female

A deeper analysis of the top 15 travel properties found significant differences in visitation between female and male smartphone users across travel brands. Among OTA smartphone audiences, women represented a relatively greater proportion of all visitors than did men. Compared to the total Travel category, females represented 14 percent more visitors to Expedia Inc. (index of 114), 12 percent more visitors to Kayak.com, and 22 percent more for Orbitz. The most evident gender difference among OTAs was demonstrated by Travelocity where 65.9 percent of the brand's smartphone audience was female with an index of 137. Priceline was the only OTA among the top 15 properties where men accounted for the majority of visitors at 53.4 percent.

Among top airline sites and apps, males accounted for nearly 3 in 4 visitors to Delta Airlines (index of 142), while Southwest Airlines saw females account for 3 in 5 visitors (index of 126). Hotel brands also saw men and women engage differently. InterContinental Hotels Groups and Wyndham Worldwide saw women account for the majority of smartphone visitors, while Hilton saw men represent 66.8 percent of its smartphone audience. Among top hotel brands, Marriot saw the most even distribution of its audience between males and females.

Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Age 18+ on iOS, Android and RIM Platforms

Source: comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0

Males

Females

% Composition of Visitors

Composition Index* Unique Visitors

% Composition of Visitors

Composition Index* Unique Visitors

Travel Category

52.1%

100

47.9%

100

TripAdvisor Media Group

49.5%

95

50.5%

105

Expedia

45.0%

87

55.0%

114

Southwest Airlines

39.2%

76

60.8%

126

Priceline.com

53.4%

103

46.6%

97

Travora Media

52.8%

102

47.2%

98

Kayak.com

46.1%

89

53.9%

112

Delta Airlines

73.6%

142

26.4%

55

Orbitz Worldwide

41.6%

80

58.4%

122

Marriott

51.6%

99

48.4%

101

InterContinental Hotels Group

48.6%

93

51.4%

107

Travelocity

34.1%

66

65.9%

137

Hipmunk

54.7%

105

45.3%

94

Disney Parks & Travel

30.2%

58

69.8%

145

Hilton Hotels

66.8%

129

33.2%

69

Wyndham Worldwide

41.0%

79

59.0%

123

**Index = % of Segment/% of Total Visitors x 100 ;Index of 100 indicates average representation.

comScore's Unified Digital Measurement for Mobile

Mobile Metrix 2.0 utilizes comScore's Unified Digital Measurement™ for smartphone devices, combining passive on-device measurement with census-level data to provide one of the most accurate and detailed views into actual U.S. mobile media usage across apps and mobile browsing. comScore's tagging for mobile web and app assets is simple to implement and is available today at no cost to publishers worldwide. For more information, please contact your comScore representative. Not a client? Visit direct.comscore.com and sign up for free to start tagging today.